The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment that Transformed their Lives by Cheryl Jarvis

The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment that Transformed their Lives by Cheryl Jarvis

In an attempt to find out about new books and support my local library, I buy a Book Lover’s Page-A-Day Calendar from the Wheaton Public Library every year. (Actually, this has become Noa’s annual Christmas present to me – she is her mother’s daughter.) While I certainly do not read every book on their list, I do find gems once in a while and whenever I find a book I already read, I feel validated and triumphant.

Early in January came this title: The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment that Transformed their Lives. I remember vaguely hearing about this a few years ago but it did not interest me that much at the time – a handful of women who had nothing better to do that buy a diamond necklace together? Well, forgive me Ladies of Jewelia (named after their heroine Julia Child), but I wrote you off quickly and misjudged you – my apologies.

The book is divided into chapters, each focuses on a woman in the club. The first chapter focuses on the woman who started it all. After continually passing by a local jewelry store window and fanaticizing about a displayed necklace – even trying it on a few times – she decides that while she would not use the necklace all the time, why not find other women who felt the same way and buy it together? She gathered a dozen other women and together they spend $1,000 each to share a necklace of 118 diamonds that total 15.24 carats. Their group meets monthly where they share about their lives and the woman passes it on to the next. Each chapter tells the individual story of how the woman came to the group – friends, the jeweler’s wife, acquaintances – and how they function together first as shareholders and then as friends.

The book asks the question:  “Can any of us pinpoint the moment when we’ve lost our younger selves, lost joy in the simple things, stopped celebrating life?” The group, consisting of women in their 40s and 50s, really questioned if they were individually where they were supposed to be and somehow knew that they were supposed to be more than they were. That they all came to this realization at the same time and with women who all felt they wanted more was a revelation and encouragement to them all.

The book does not spare the truth – the author shares about the women who want legal documents drawn up to the women who want it to just be fun. One woman shares how her sex life with her husband completely changed (I thought “Didn’t she know this was going to be published?” but it is how her life was transformed, so huzzah to you!) The jeweler agreed to cut the price of the necklace on the condition that his wife was allowed to join the group -- he had been concerned that she did not have a community and knew she would be happier with a group of women friends (who isn't!?)

What I found is that the necklace drew in so many women who had experienced great loss (parents, marriages, friends, finances, love, and difficulties in early life) and how this group became their community and strength. The group began as just a fun thing to do together, but as word traveled about them, they realized they needed to do something with their fame. It was encouraging to see them moving past their disappointments and hurts from the past, consciously live in the present and make their group about service and community. They have held many fundraisers and raised great awareness for causes deep to their hearts. It is encouraging.

Now, I know most women would not consider sharing a necklace like this and many more can’t afford it – I am not advocating you and your girlfriends finding an amazing cocktail ring and splitting it in order to make a difference. But the book really does encourage and challenge any group of women who want to connect to each other while serving outside themselves. I am >all< for community, especially community amongst women and even more, community amongst Christian sisters – I believe it is not only a gift from the Lord, but also a commandment. If you do not have a group of Christian sisters like this, I hope you can find one. If you do, I encourage you to not just be in sharing groups with them, but find a cause or ministry where you can band together, be in community and serve outside the group together with the group.

One of the necklace owners stated: “I realized that what made the necklace exciting to wear wasn’t the necklace itself. If I’d wanted a diamond necklace, I would have bought one a long time ago. What made it exciting was the story behind it. Getting to tell the story was what I’d become attached to.” I hope you are in or can find a group that has a story to tell.

The book is a quick, easy read, but it will challenge you to consider what you and your closest friends can do to raise awareness, serve your community and be an amazing support for each other.

"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.

This book is on many “Best of 2011” lists and I understand why – it is certainly on mine. It is a true story but does not read like dry nonfiction, overly steeped in fact. It reads smoothly and easily, much like Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, a favorite book of mine. She is talented in taking truth and reality and making the reader desire more – the ease of her writing, the feeling that she can’t deny or make these things up and her dedication to making the book the best retelling possible…well, I, for one, appreciate her hard work.

This true story is about Louis Zamperini, a World War II Air Force soldier whose plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean. The story tells of precocious – and trust me, that is a nice word for it – Zamperini in his youth years and how it all actually prepared him for his life and what was to come. The book’s dust jacket and promotional materials really don’t say much more than that and after reading the book, I understand why – you don’t want to spoil the story. I will share more here, but if you don’t want to know, move onto the next paragraph. Zamperini and some fellow soldiers are adrift for some time, fighting hunger, weather and sharks. Soon they are rescued, but by Japanese soldiers and are forced into their camp and a slow, long and breaking experience follows as Zamperini is a POW for many years. These years make up much of the book and you hurt for him and wonder when and how he will survive – I knew Hillenbrand had interviewed him so I knew he made it out, but my goodness , there are times you wonder. The book is not touted as a story of Christian redemption, but Zamperini does find the Lord and you see firsthand the amazing work God can do in the heart of men. The story does leave you with great hope and belief in the grace of God.

I am not sure if you have read Seabiscuit (it was made into a movie as well), but I recommend that one as well. In fact, I liked it more than Unbroken, but Hillenbrand has blessed us with both books. Her writing is very interesting to me – Hillenbrand is gifted with telling sad, often cringingly painful stories and showing the grace and light in them. She must be drawn to stories of redemption. As a Christian, I find that the best stories are stories of redemption and our natural human need for it. We know somewhere in us that we need to be saved and while we try many things to rescue us – relationships, money, success, whatever your heart leans toward – there is a sense that we need it. I think of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, “Hamlet,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” – even the Harry Potters, for crying out loud – they are archetypal characters and stories that seem to keep coming up in the best of all our books. I know the trend is toward hopelessness – first time David saw “Mad Men,” he said that it was the most depressing thing he had ever seen – and I know it is “in,” but I think that is a sign that we have tried many saviors and redeemers and none are coming close to filling us as the Lord can.

Read Unbroken and Seabiscuit – she is one of our most gifted writers and I want you to know her writing.

"My Life in France" by Julia Child

My Life in France by Julia Child

This is my third time in three years to read this book. Like many people of my generation, I remember Julia Child – “The French Chef” – on the local PBS channel, playing on the kitchen tv as my mom cooked. I do not know if my mom ever “cooked along with Julia,” but maybe just having her voice and presence while one cooked was encouragement enough. I also remember the “Saturday Night Live” skit where Dan Ackroyd played Julia Child (“oh, I seem to have cut the dickens out my finger…”). Julia Child was just always there, you know? So when I first was given this book for a book club, I didn’t know anything other than my childhood knowledge that she cooked on tv.

How I loved getting to know her through this book. The book chronicles how she became a chef after she followed her husband Paul to Paris for his work. She was 37 years old and had not found a calling…until she began eating French food, visiting markets and eventually began classes at the Cordon Bleu. Her love of food began and through meeting new friends, she began work on her classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

While My Life in France describes her cooking lessons, various dishes and dinners she prepared, favorite meals from across France, the progress of how her book was published and her ascent to becoming Julia Child, the joy of the book is just getting to know Julia as herself. She has a self-confidence that allows her to share her failures, concerns and losses, and yet it does not diminish her in the least. She is rightly proud of herself when she finally concocts the perfect mayonnaise or spends months making the real French bread.

She does not shy away from the imperfect parts of life. She shares how her liberal political views clash with her seriously conservative father and the strain it caused within her family.  She knows that at 6’2 and without a slight frame that she is not considered a great beauty, but her husband loves her and she truly seems content. She talks of her failures, her insecurities and relationships – she is quite real.

Most French people are very welcoming with her, but when one woman snappishly shares a recipe that Julia knows to be wrong, her response is succinct: “Balls.” You have to love this woman.

And you cannot spend an entire book with Julia without getting to know – and fall in love with – her husband Paul. Their love story is one of amazing support, partnership and sheer joy in each other. It is warming and encouraging without ever a hint of schmaltz or an eye roll.

While a few years ago it came out that while in France, Julia was a spy for the OSS, this is never hinted at in her book. She seems to have no spare time, so not sure how she was working for the government – but I guess that is why she was a good spy.

You may have seen the movie “Julie and Julia” a few years ago – the “Julia” part of the movie was based upon this book. The “Julie” part was based upon Julie Powell’s book and I was “meh” on both that book and that part of the movie.

My book club read this for our December selection and then everyone cooked a dish out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I made the suggestion and after it was enthusiastically welcomed, I thought -- Lord, help me. I made the plan and now I am remembering how I am not that good of a cook. Well, if Julia believes in me, perhaps I can do it. (I ended up making Gratin Dauphinois – scalloped potatoes with garlic and Swiss cheese. It turned out pretty well and I know make it every few weeks.) By the way, the book club dinner was amazing and such fun.

Sidenote: “The French Chef” shows are on Amazon Prime and I showed Noa Julia making Boeuf Bourguignon – as she showed the cuts she prefers, she then showed the meat the butcher had given her. She calls it measly, compares it to cat food and flings it in a bowl of screen saying “and I don’t like it.”

I will reread and lend out My Life in France over and over. I highly recommend it. You will feel good after reading it. As Julia would say, “Bon Appétit!”